Baghdad Conference

Good Evening Everyone,
I am sorry that I haven't written in a while, but we have been extremely busy. Bryan and I had the opportunity to attend a PA/NP conference at the Al Faw Palace in Baghdad. We were able to pick up 27 much needed CME hours. While we were there, we had the good fortune to take a tour of the area. Below are some of the pictures. It is hard to believe that so much money and resources were utilized for the pleasure of one man. It is enough to say that, Saddam had quite the ego and the taste for the exquisite.

Picture 1: Al Faw Palace. One of 89 palaces that Saddam had built in his honor.

Picture 2: This is Qusay's house. He was one of the evil son's of Saddam.

Picture 1: This was Saddam's house of horrors. He would have some of his thug's pick up girls as young as jr. high schoolers. He would rape them and then return them to their fathers who were then instructed to kill their child because she was now no longer a virgin and thus unclean. However, to save the father's the burden of killing their daughter, Qusay would kill the girls for them.

Picture 2: Saddam's helocopter pad.

Picture 1: Bath party headquarters. This is where Saddam would meet with his party leaders. This is a pool that decorated the grounds. Here a J-Dam missle took this building out, killing over 250 of Saddam's party members.

Picture 2: Saddam had two son-in-laws who fled the country with party secrets. Saddam convinced them to return and he promised not to harm them. As soon as they returned, he had them killed. As a gift for losing their father's, Saddam had this 'Flintstone Village' built for his grand kids. It was fully staffed with cooks and maids and servants.

Picture 1: This is the Victory over America Palace that Saddam was building. He titled it Victory over America as a symbol to his ability to stay in power despite the first Gulf War and his continued defiance.

Picture 2: This is one of the several ball rooms in the Palace. This palace was hit with missles during the Shock and Awe attack at the beginning of the war.

Picture 1: Here is Bryan next to Saddam's painting.

Picture 1: This is a swimming pool that is in the Bath Party building. The pool was never used for swimming. It was apparently used for executions. When our military took over the building they saw that the walls were covered with these dark spots like the one next to the ladder.

Picture 2: Upon closer inspection, you can see that this spot is blood. They left one spot remaining, I suppose to show people the truth behind Saddam's murderous regime.

Picture 1: Bath Party building. This is the main meeting room where Saddam met with his leaders.

Picture 2: One of the hallways hit by a missle.

Picture 1: This is the room where Dan Rather interviewed Saddam prior to the war.

Picture 2: A mosque.

A Royal Bathroom

Picture 1: This is a chair given to Saddam by Yassir Arafat (sp?) Notice the silver head rest is decorated with the same pattern of the head scarf that Arafat wore.

Picture 2: Al Fawl Palace.

MRAP vehicles. These vehicles are fully up armored and allows most soldiers to survive a direct IED attack.

Picture 1: This was the lobby outside of our conference room. Here Bryan is darting toward the snack table.

Picture 2: This is the lake outside the palace. The fish are carp and as you can tell, fed frequently by military and civilian personnel.

Picture 1: Our conference room.

Picture 2: This building was where one of Saddam's daughters lived.

Picture 1: The foyer outside of Al Faw Palace.

Picture 2: View from balcony of Palace.

Al Faw Palace.

Thank you for taking time to check in. May the Lord bless and keep you safe and in His Spirit.